A/n: Me, fail English? That's unpossible!

Chapter 7

Guardianship

'Here we are.' Bushroot announced as he gestured out at the horizon.

'Keen Gear!' Gosalyn felt like they were in the clouds as she rushed over to the railing and looked out, the ocean view was taken up by the massive floating city beneath them, it was huge, with very tall towers rising up out of a roofed over-deck and beneath that was the base they had been in. 'It's huge!' She said looking at it in awe. 'What are in all of these towers?'

Bushroot pointed out a building on the very edge of the massive base that glistened in the sunlight. 'Well that one's the hydroponic-greenhouse.'

'And that?' Gosalyn pointed to the small, fat building near the main tower that they were on top of, it looked like someone had decided to flatten it with a mallet in comparison to the other buildings.

'That's the main hanger, and over there is the secure hanger where your Dad is right now.' The building though quite taller than the main hanger had the same pudgy appearance. Well they are hanger-bays they need to be to fit all the planes in. Gosalyn reminded herself. 'And you guys live here?' She asked in amazement.

'Yes, it was one of FOWL's bases and we've just expanded on top of it and around it. Darkwing Saviour came up with the idea after the initial outbreak.'

'What happened anyway?' Gosalyn asked looking at him.

'Didn't Megavolt tell you?' Bushroot asked somewhat hesitantly.

'Not really.' Gosalyn said.

Bushroot frowned. 'Well, it isn't a very nice story, I can understand why he wouldn't have.'

'Oh, come on... I've seen pretty much every zombie movie there is! I can handle it!'

Bushroot frowned. 'I don't want to give you nightmares.'

'Please...' Gosalyn pleaded, with what she knew of Bushroot this childish tact would get her more results.

Bushroot gazed at her for a moment and gave a sad sigh. 'Alright, I'll tell you... come on, we'd better get you two inside before you get burnt.'

'Given the amount of reflective surfaces up here I tend to agree.' Honker commented.

Gosalyn frowned and took one last look at the amazing city before following them both inside.

'Well let's see, it started over 17 years ago.' Bushroot said as he led the way through the tower-block. 'Our FOWL started researching into the supernatural to see if they could use something to take over the world.'

'Sounds like FOWL alright.'

'Well they started experimenting on people to try and make them more obedient... unfortunately the experiments went wrong and they were suddenly dealing with zombies, meanwhile our S.H.U.S.H got wind of their experimenting and sent Darkwing in to investigate, he took his wife with him since Morgana knew more about the supernatural than anyone...'

Gosalyn gave a frown. 'Knew?'

'She was attacked by the zombie's, Darkwing managed to save her from being eaten, but she'd been bitten and Darkwing had to make the toughest decision of his life, let her turn into a zombie or kill her to save her.'

Gosalyn frowned, imagining her father in that situation made her really concerned. 'What did he do?'

Bushroot frowned. 'So Steelbeak tells it he killed her and cried.'

'Dad, cry?'

'Wouldn't you? He had to kill his wife...'

The cliché was very clear here. 'So Dad saved Steelbeak from the zombies?'

'Yes; the zombies had either killed or turned every other member of FOWL, so it was Steelbeak alone that had to stand there and try to bring Darkwing to his senses, and Darkwing made a decision right there and then between going on the path of a vengeance crazed zombie slayer and the path of a saviour, right there, on the spot, in emotional turmoil, with the fate of the world unknowingly resting on his shoulders he became Darkwing Saviour.'

Gosalyn smiled for a moment, proud that her father had chosen to be a hero instead of a maniac.

'Then he took Steelbeak to S.H.U.S.H and, so they say, he made a phone call home and got Launchpad to take our version of you from school and keep you and your baby sister keep safe at his hideout until he got back, he then took command of the entire situation, not even Grizlikoff argued with him when he chose to save every citizen he could, starting up a world-wide alert that the plague was coming... that everyone needed to be taken to safer places.'

'Wow, he really did become a saviour.'

'Oh yes.' Bushroot nodded. 'He was the forerunner for the free service, money was disbanded immediately and our world took up a "help whoever you can" structure.'

'He took over the world?'

'At that point no one dared to argue, he had S.H.U.S.H backing him every step of the way, Director Hooter made the call the moment he heard Darkwing had chosen to change his name; Darkwing then started the work on here and the military used whatever they could to try and keep the plague numbers down to a minimum, but people were still dying, and then St Canard got hit, Darkwing managed to save quite a number of people, including Megavolt and Quackerjack…' Bushroot paused as he grinned in amusement 'and a rather upset Negaduck.' Bushroot snickered. 'I remember the argument they had, it was in a highly crowded office building that everyone was trying to keep safe in, Darkwing pulled Negaduck in, Negs apparently had been hit by a street post that had just been run into by a car, Darkwing saved him from being an easy target and Negaduck had to nurse not only a head injury but a wounded pride as well... oh he was unbearable.'

Gosalyn and Honker exchanged a look. 'How did your Negaduck take the news of Darkwing being in charge?'

'He took that well enough, he had to admit Darkwing knew what he was doing, and that was quite impressive since everyone was so panicked and distressed, meanwhile our Quiverwing Quack decided to get involved in the zombie-slayer groups that were choosing to take an offensive, Darkwing was very upset when he had to save her too.'

Gosalyn gave a sheepish smile. 'I'm sure I thought I could handle it, zombies aren't that hard...'

'No, but a zombie hoard is.'

'Considering how even Negaduck needed saving earlier I think he has a point.' Honker said to her.

'So where does Vanquisher Duck fit into this story?' Gosalyn asked pointedly feeling rather irritated that they didn't think she'd be able to take care of herself.

Bushroot frowned. 'You know that baby-sister I mentioned you had.'

'Yeah... oh no way, Vanquisher Duck is my sister?'

Bushroot nodded. 'Everyone was relocated here via Megavolt's teleporter and D.S chose to stay by the action at his hideout, keeping Quiverwing out of the zombie-slaying groups whilst simultaneously going out and searching for anyone left behind...'

'That would've been hard.' Honker commented before immediately regretting the comment as it had been an unintentional dig at his best friend.

'Hey!' Gosalyn snapped. 'I could handle zombies! I know-'

'Anyway...' Bushroot said choosing to interrupt Gosalyn who was feeling rather defensive. 'He taught her some proper techniques and founded our mission to save the multiverse from fates such as ours, then about four years later Launchpad got killed.'

Gosalyn took a deep breath suddenly feeling very pale, this story was more horrible than all the monster movies she'd seen so far, all too close to home for comfort: Morgana was dead, Launchpad was dead... 'How?' She asked.

'He went after one of the zombie-slaying groups and no one made it back alive.'

She closed her eyes... Launchpad.

'Darkwing didn't take that blow too well, he went a bit off the rails.' Bushroot frowned. 'He realised he couldn't save those closest to him, for some reason he just couldn't protect them, and being a single father of a headstrong young zombie-slayer and a half-monster really didn't sit well with that revelation...'

Gosalyn thought for a moment, no, this next bit wasn't going to be good to hear.

'That's when he put Quiverwing in charge of the multiverse-monitors and from what we know he trained Vanquisher Duck into the slayer she is now and there is no one better at it in the multiverse.' Bushroot smiled. 'I remember the day he called us into that meeting, Megavolt, Quackerjack, Liquidator, Steelbeak and Myself, the five of us thought we were in trouble but instead he made us their godparents.' Bushroot wiped his eyes. 'It was such a touching moment...'

'He made you what!'

Bushroot smiled more. 'That was Negaduck's reaction when he heard about it, I think he was just upset that he wasn't included.'

Bushroot's amused grin faded immediately when a very familiar voice growled from behind them. 'Really, Bushroot, the one thing that bothered me about you lot being thrown into guardianship was the fact that he'd decided to rely on criminals.'

'Hey!' Bushroot turned around. 'We're all former criminals, just like Morgana was.'

Gosalyn and Honker had to stare, so this was the other Negaduck? He wasn't very different looking than theirs, perhaps it was the mask that hid any sign of ageing but he didn't appear all that different than the one in the hanger-bay, the only difference was the ease in which he stood, Gosalyn classed it as "calm" maybe even "casual", he was perfectly at ease with everything.

Negaduck gave a snort of amusement. 'Morgana chose to turn her back on crime, you lot just had none to commit any more.'

'And you, Negaduck?' Bushroot asked glaring him down.

Gosalyn was surprised that Bushroot had enough nerve to stand up to Negaduck, where he would normally have dropped his argument he was still holding on to it, how could that have changed?

'I'm public enemy number one and the majority of the population are now zombies.' Negaduck said casually. 'I'm not a good guy, I'm just better off like this.'

'Sure and NegaGirl's not forcing you to be here at all.' Bushroot commented snidely.

Negaduck's eyes narrowed and he stepped up to Bushroot with a very dark look on his face. 'My daughter isn't forcing me to be here, I'm here cos I have my own reasons, she works for me, just remember that, Bushy.'

Bushroot rose his eyebrow, a smile forming on his face. 'You think that she'd be willing to go a round against Vanquisher Duck?' He asked calmly. 'She's not called "Darkwing's Little Monster" for no reason you know, you try something, Negaduck, and you know that you will be dealing with her.'

Negaduck glared at him.

'Which would be why he isn't a godparent.' Honker commented.

This made both adults blink and looked at him a little puzzled at the comment.

'It's a rational explanation.' Honker said taking a step backwards.

'I wouldn't try and give a rational reason to anything Darkwing Saviour did at that point, he was totally flipped in the head by that stage... though he'd been threatening it for years.' Negaduck said coolly.

'Never mind Vanquisher Duck I'll hurt him myself!' Gosalyn pushed her sleeves up and made a step for Negaduck, which amused him greatly.

Bushroot shook his head. 'I don't think now is the time for a fight.' He scooped Gosalyn up and headed away as she protested, Honker followed eyeing Negaduck nervously as he did.

Once they were in another corridor Bushroot finally put Gosalyn down. 'Your father wouldn't forgive me if I let you get into a fight with Negaduck.' He explained.

'There was something different about that version of Negaduck.' Gosalyn said bluntly. 'He was... even you're different than our version of you.'

'Given the differences between Darkwing and Negaduck the likelihood of finding an alternate that matches up exactly the same is highly improbable.' Honker stated.

'Yeah, but Negaduck wasn't nearly as horrible as-'

'Our Negaduck goes by the official name of "Slightly-Less Negaduck".' Bushroot said calmly 'Every Negaduck alternate is still Negaduck but they go to different lengths.'

'This multiverse thing is giving me a headache.' Gosalyn said as she shook her head, feeling the beginnings of a headache forming. 'I wonder how Dad's coping with it.'


Meanwhile:

'So I trained her to slay zombies?' Darkwing asked as he followed Megavolt through the corridors and into a massive science lab.

'Monsters.' Megavolt corrected calmly as he weaved his way around people and benches where everyone was busily working on their own projects. 'Welcome to the Transdimensional Lab; every piece of Multiversal Technology we use is made in this room.'

'Well, it certainly feels like that.' Darkwing couldn't help but be concerned about how many of these people were working on weapons.

'All of these weapons are for multiversal security, there is only so much slayers can do with swords.'

Darkwing frowned. 'Vanquisher Duck-'

'Oh she uses magic as well, but it's always good to have a back-up plan.'

'What do you mean by monsters?'

'Well, multiversal monsters for the most part, you know, your average creature created to destroy universes.'

'I see...'

'She might be a little socially awkward but when it comes to matters involving the multiverse there isn't a single person who knows more.'

Darkwing thought for a moment, socially awkward?

'And then there's keeping our Negaduck in line.' Megavolt said casually. 'I don't think he's scared of her, but he certainly does a retake when she gets mentioned, partially because Vanquisher is Nega-Girl's Best Friend.'

'Nega-Girl...' Darkwing prompted.

'Oh she's our Negaduck's daughter, we had wondered why he was so zenned out whenever he showed up, but then the zombies hit the Negaverse and needed help.'

'Really? I assumed that everyone in the Negaverse was equipped to handle something like that.'

'Well, life does go on relatively the same in the Negaverse now, but that's because we sent Vanquisher over there when it became clear they needed help... zombies are easily taken care of when she's around.'

Darkwing gave a nod, thinking about the zombie's he had encountered earlier and how quickly they had all been taken care of.

'Blow two to Negaduck's ego.'

'She saved him?'

'That's one of the things D.S trained her to do, save people by slaying monsters...'

Darkwing gave a fraction of a smile. 'It seems I taught her an awful lot.'

Megavolt paused, giving a distracted frown. 'Yeah... maybe a little-... I guess-...' Megavolt shook his head and returned to the piece of technology on the bench adjusting a few things.

Darkwing gazed at him. 'What? What's wrong?'

'Nothing... she's fine.'

Darkwing waited.

'She does what she's trained to do, and she does it very well.'

'But...' Darkwing prompted.

'She's a bit, socially challenged.'

'How do you mean?' Darkwing asked suddenly feeling like he was having a meeting with a school counsellor.

'Interactions, she doesn't do social interactions, not because she doesn't like them, but because she can't understand them, the only thing she knows about is being a slayer and saving people, she can't do social.'

'Well, she's got Nega-Girl.' Darkwing said hopefully.

'Nega-Girl doesn't do social because it isn't her thing, when she and Vanquisher get to having conversations they're always about slaying.'

Darkwing frowned. 'There's no one else?'

Megavolt shook his head. 'It's like she's missing that aspect of her nature.'

'When did I die?' Darkwing asked.

'Before Quiverwing did.' Megavolt said bluntly.

'Right, so how did she and Quiverwing get along?'

'They didn't.' Megavolt said frowning. 'Quiverwing switched off of people and went reckless "zombie-slayer".'

Darkwing frowned, he'd heard about Darkwarrior Duck from Gosalyn after the incident, about just how much her disappearance had affected him but he'd never considered the other-side of the matter, a Gosalyn without him, he shook his head clear of the thoughts.

'Hey...' Megavolt gazed at him. 'Are you alright, Darkwing?'

'Yeah.' Darkwing lied; truthfully the thought of having failed so badly at being a parent that he'd ruined not only one daughter's life but the other as well wasn't sitting all that well with him, how could he have called himself a "saviour" if he had been responsible for both of their troubles?

'I told you that you went a little crazy.' Megavolt shrugged.

'Crazy nothing!' Darkwing exclaimed. 'It's no excuse to fail my duties as a father!'

'Fail?' Megavolt said. 'They outlived you, Darkwing, that's not a failure!'

'Why do you think Vanquisher is socially awkward?'

Megavolt looked back to the device he was working on. 'She's very good at what she does.'

'And that's it? That's all that matters?' Darkwing asked bluntly.

'That's it?' Megavolt repeated. 'You have no idea how many people she's saved so far, yourself included.'

'What good is that when she can't actually live herself?' Darkwing asked.

Megavolt heaved a weighty sigh. 'Darkwing, don't be a hero… that's what D.S had to learn all those years ago, there is no place for a "hero" in a world like this, this is a nightmare version of your world, there is no good and bad, only survival, no one's kids turn out quite right in a world like this, but she's still alive and she's the only hope other universes have to stop them from going the same way as our own.'

'Oh so it's perfectly acceptable then? So why isn't this sitting well with you then, Megavolt?'

'Because you made us her guardians! We're the only family she has anymore and all of us take that responsibility very seriously!' Megavolt fixed him with a serious look. 'And Darkwing, don't try and step in and fix this, you're an alternate version of her dead father and that isn't a good place to be standing in.'

'Why not?' Darkwing asked.

'Because she's not handling this "encounter" as well as she's making it seem.' Megavolt said bluntly.

'Is that why you wanted me to come with you? To get me away from her?'

'Well that and you can actually be useful here.'

'Oh really, how?'

'Hand me that set of pliers.'